a m s t commit
Welfare Reform- An Overdue Need
oy tioye h. Marun sr.
Post Executive Editor
Bayard Rus tin, president of the A.
Philip Randolph Institute, has writ
ten recently that one of the little
known or little observed contempo
rary economic facts is that hard
working black Americans with sta
ble families are the most unrecogni
zed and underpraised group in our
society. They are given little credit
for their efforts by black and white
leaders, instead, poor blacks are
given the lion's share of the attention
which tends to stereotype all blacks.
With some exceptions, an exam
ple of this stereotyping was evident
in a January issue of BUSINESS
WEEK magazine. The cover story
was titled, "The $60 Billion Welfare
Failure" and showed a painting of a
black mother with two children.
Such a cover reinforces the already
existing myth in the minds of most
middle-income taxpayers that most
welfare recipients are black.
The fact is, according to U.S.
Census data, poor black families
make up only one-third of all the
poor. Furthermore, among poor
families headed by working women,
22 percent of the black women work
as compared to only six percent of
the white women. Also, the Cen
sus points out that in 1975 the total
m : —»-»i - * i- -
are in effect what economists call
structural market problems that are
at the root of the problem.
The Washington Post's William
Raspberry clearly stated the
structural problem when he wrote,
"A look at that 7.1 million on the
jobless list drives home the fact that
the absence of skills is not the major
cause of joblessness. It is the ab
sence of jobs. It is folly," Raspberry
continues, "to suppose that a semi
literate welfare recipient can find a
decent job after six weeks of train
ing when the employment offices are
full of people who can't find work
with six years of college."
Inescapable Fact
Underlying Mr. Raspberry com-_
ment is the inescapable fact that
capitalism or the market system can
no longer respond to the needs of the
American people. However, to ac
cept this as truth means to accept
the need for a new ism, a new
economic order. Vet, sinr«» mnst
Americans assume incorrectly that
the only alternative to our now
inadequate economic system is dis
tasteful socialism, the nation will
probably stumble along with a big
ger "welfare mess" as the years go
u.. mi ι — ii—
mj . λ. iim, uo iuii0 oa uic vvcuai c
system, with all of its inadequaties
can continue to regulate the growing
pool of marginal skilled and unskill
ed labor and maintain civil order,
little in the way of signigicant
welfare reform will occur.
However, as the tensions and
disorders characteristic of the 1960s
begin to re-appear accompanied by
a semi-permanent unemployed
force of 10 to 15 million people or
—welfare roles that threaten to-reach
50 to 60 million, then and only then,
will the nation demand and get a
meaningful guaranteed income pro
gram accompanied by the absence
of the stigma of unemployment, a
new value interpretation of the work
ethic and a stripped down manage
able welfare bureaucracy.
_ This probably sounds like η harsh
if not radical approach to welfare
reform. It is harsh and it is radical
because President Carter's at
tempts to solve the welfare problem
will fail if he depends on jobs and !
work incentive programs because
the jobs are simply not there.
Furthermore, the nearly one-third of
a million workers in the welfare
bureaucracy at all levels of govern
ment who have considerable politi
cal influence will hamper Garter's
efforts to institute change.
Since jobs, or a lack of them, was
listed as the number one concern at
the London meeting of the worlds
seven leading industrial democra
cies earlier this week, America must
indeed resolve quickly the manwork
relationship philosophical question
or freedom as we know it may be
endangered. . ...
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Integration Crunches Role Of Black Colleges
By Gerald Johnson
The effect integration has
had on predominately Black
institutions of higher learning
is beginning to surface. Unfor
tunately the smell is not
coming up roses.
The well prepared black
students coming out of high
school are heavily recruited
by the better facilitated white
universities. After the smoke
clears what is left is recruited
by the Black institutions.
Black institutions of higher
learning have found themsel
ves with the unenviable Usk of
spending a lot of time and
energy in preparing . reme
dial programs.
I find it unfortunate that
many funding institution·
have used the above problem
as a reason for discrediting
Black institutions instead of a
cause to help strengthen them.
Before continuing Τ think ι
complete description of the
- problem tsîrr BTWT STrîci
Blacks have been able to eat
at any restaurant, sUy at any
hotel and all the other goodies
that came along with integra
tion. Blacks have been able to
send their children to Institu
tions of higher learning of
their choice Hence, Blacks
WIUI liiuucj uiumaicij acuu
their kids to the Dukes, Har
vard*, Yales, University of
Penns, and the like. ThOM
Black parents who were for
tunate enough to have chil
dren that were academically
or athletically gifted didn't
even have to worry. The white
institutions supplied ample
monies to cover the coat of aa
education. If you were raally
gifted you could even get a
couple of cars, girls, the
works, thrown In on the deal.
Coupling this with the fact that
these white institutions have
all the facilitiea, the beat
professors, what else can I tell
you.
So then who is left to go to
the Balck Institutions? I
thought you'd never ask. The
Black Institutions thereby has
to recruit those students that
probably otherwise wouldn't
have attended college at all.
The average parental income
of these student» range» from
14,000 ■ $6,000 dollars per
annum. The average scholas
tic apitude test score is less
than 500 These students are
recruited by Black Institu
tions under the name of "open
admissions." meaning that no
minimum criteria is needed to
be admitted So, students
com· Ιο M*f*1 who can't af
ford it. This student need·
special educational attention,
special counseling - you name
it and he needs It - special.
Yet he has no money to p ,
the special needs.
Therefore, Black Institu
tions are forced to fo out and
request funds to educate these
lions, federal and state go
vernment, church associa
tions, and industry.
Whenever funding institu
tions decide to tighten the old
purse string, the Black institu
tions are the ones to catch it
first. This is odd because total
run ding to all Black institu
tions is less than one tenth of
one percent of total funds al
lotted tor «duration by the
funding institutions. It seems
useless in trying to keep and
overloaded plane from crash
ing by emptying the ashtrays
out the window. Because of
"open admission" funding In
stitutions are constantly pres
suring Black institutions to
become lower divisional
schools (two year institutions)
or merge with a nearby insti
tution.
It seems to me that funding
institutions are insensitive to a
critical social problem that
minimum funding will not
solve. Black institutions were
born out of a need to educate
Black people. At one time they
were the only institutions to
educate Black people. Evan
then it was done with a mini
mum amount of money. Hie
change in society bas shifted
a special purpoae institution.
Its job becomes that of giving
thoae people a chance who 6
years ago would not haveltid
that chance. But funding insti
tutions must realise that an
acceleration of funds and not a
deceleration is what is needed
to help these Instltu
none meet the challenge·.
Laws must be instituted to
better regulate financial aid to
students, a topic I will discuss
further at ■ later date. Thus
Black institutions are Just as
important now as they were in
the past. However, the chal
lenge that faces these Institu
tions is a demanding one. Few
are prepared to meet the chal
lenge. I will discuss this at
length in an article titled
"What Black Institutions Must
Do."
Carter Get· High Marks
Continued from Page 1
can forgive and forget."
"Now my ton can come
home if he wante," a woman
from Mecklenburg-County
said. But another woman from
New Hanover County, laid, "I
oppose it because 1 lost my
husbsod in the war."
Carter's strongest support
on both questions came from
two groups, people under 30
and black·. Three-quarters of
poll participants in these two
demographic subgroups gave
him good ratings on Job per
Unrsssnre, end slightly maw
than 40 percent of both groups
expressed approval of his par
don.
Carter was also more popu
lar with women .than with
men. Thirty-seven percent of
female respondent· supported
his psrdon, compared with a
percent of the men. Seventy
percent of the women Mid be
had done a good )ob u presi
. dent; M percent of the men ta
the poll gave him a favorable
{ rating.
Respondent* with varying
education levels and from dif
ferent typea of communities
responded similarly to poll
questions.
Names of the people iotl·
tacted in the poll were choaaa
randomly from current pub
lished N.C. telephone directo
ries. Because homes wlthowt
telephones were excluded, the
HUM »niiuy-aw>gfHW—i
blacks, people with low educa
tion and people k> rural areas.
Interviewing was done be
tween March It and March SI.
Results of a survey of this
type are accurate to wttMa 4
or S percentage points * la at
least M surveys out of IV)
iiuuiuvi υι μυυι wmic laiuuics wda
3,800,000 as compared to only 1,500,
000 black families. However, we
must hastely note that this data is
largely misleading when it is realiz
ed that the 1.5 million blacks repre
sent 27.1 percent of all poor black
families while 3.8 million whites
represent only 7.7 of all poor~white
families. The significance of this is
; that a black American laces a
ί greater possibility of being poor
5 than does a white American.
? Existing Myths
We have., made these racial com
parisons pimply to help clarify a,
myth; a myth that reinforces consi
derable deep-seated racism within
many whites who want to believe
thai blacks are lazy, irresponsible
parasites living off of the backs of
middle-class taxpayers.
Racial matters aside, the "wel
fare mess" is appropriately named
because it is wasteful, inefficient,
unmanageable and, as President
Carter ***** insult to those
who pay the bill and those who
honestly need help." Underlying this
"mess,7' BUSINESS WEEK points
out "is a philosophical question:
How should a society take care of its
losers when it depends on market
i forces to allocate incomes and weal
th...?" The problems with contem
g porary ideas on welfare reform are
in this question itself, that is, market
; forces have not been able to ade
quately allocate income and wealth
for at least the last six yé&rs. There
Supreme Court Justice Le
wis F. Powell, in writing the
majority opinion on the deci
sion concerning eorporal pu·
nishment in the schools, stated
that the school child bad little
need for the protection of the
Eighth Amendment since the
"openness of the public school
and., its supervision by the
community affords significant
safeguards."
Parents who are poor and
who belong to minorities, how
ever, have not been able to
exercise very much supervi
sion or control over some of
the public schools. The fact
that abusive punishment oc
curs seems to indicate that the
"openness" of the school and
its "supervision" by the com
munity does not afford signifi
cant safeguards to protect the
children against abuse.
In Chicago, where corporal
punishment is banned but
widely used, a group of pa
rents met to discuss the pro
blem of abusive treatment of
the children at their particular
school. Parents had a general
feeling of powerlessness as
many of them told how teach
ers would deny having struck
the child, and how the princi
pals would support, defend
and protect the teachers.
Since it usually turned out to
be a case of weighing the
BLACK COMMUNITY
ÔELF HELP -MUTÙAL ΛΙΡ
self ttuftoveneNT -&0ΡΐΜΠ0Μ
Si .
TO
BE
EQUAL
Vernon Ε. Jordan Jr.
I — I
Energy Program Hurts Poor
President Carter's energy program represents
the first serious attempt to deal with a situation
long labeled a crisis, yet largely ignored by
previous leaders. By making energy a major
national issue and by putting forth a set of
hard-nosed proposais to deal with energy needs,
the President performs an important service and
demonstrates leadership.
The energy plan is a long, complicated
proposal with something for just about everyone,
with the exception of one major group. That's
right, once again the interests of poor people
have been largely ignored.
The poor haven't been completely neglected.
There's a section of the Administration's expla
nation of the effects of its proposal that deals
with low-income families. But in contrast to the
— -- ■«——i^—< 'WW i-»eweirir-τ·κ VIT'
Blacks9 Destiny In Own Hands——
detailed nature of the rest of the plan, that
section-is vague and sketchy, perhaps because
the net result of the energy proposals may be to
make the poor poorer.
There is no question about the need to make
sacrifices and reduce reliance on high-priced,
scarce energy resources. But the real question
is: who will make the sacrifices? The proposed
package of taxes and price hikes may mean that.
the sacrifices will be squeezed out of the poor.
That's the group that always is asked to make
sacrifices for the national good. If inflation is
high, unemployment is artificially indncét to
dampen it. If government spending is tob t%h,
welfare and medical aid is cufc~~
So when I hear about the need for sacrifices I
immediately begin to get suspicious about just
who will be the sacrificial lamb. And as I read
the prospects, it looks like the poor will get it in
— the neck^this timertoor~
As it now stands, there's nothing in the
Administra ton's plan to protect poor people who
must use their cars to get to work.
In that vague section on assistance to low
income people, the plan suggests , that long-run
' increased energy costs will wait
until reform of the welfare system. That's a slim
reed on which to hang hopes. In effect, it says
we're going to raise your cost of living right now,
but don't worry, someday there may be welfare
reform and that might help. And of course, that
rtnAen't hficrin fn rfaol urifk flu» fArrîKlo mwklAmo
Coping With Corporal Punishment
child's word against the word
of adults who were in authori
ty, many parents felt that it
was perhaps better nottorm
making things worse for the
child by confronting school
authorities with the issue.
A teacher who was present
at the meeting, however,
pointed out that those children
whose parents came 10 the
school to see about them were
much less likely to receive
corporal punishment than—
those children whose parents
were never seen at the school.
He also pointed out that the
children who had received the .
most abusive treatment had
not had any "visible" parents
around, either before or after
the act.
The leader of the parents'
group summed the problem up
as follows: "When a parent
fails to show up after a child
has received corporal punish
ment, it gives the wrong Im
pression to both the teacher
and the child. The teacher
feels that he has to control the
child all by himself and that he
is therefore Justified in using
any means which be deems
necessary. On the other hand,
the child feels that no one
cares what happens to him
and he feels justified in de
fending himself by any means
necessary, mus, even small
conflicts involving corporal
puniahmentt if left unnoticed
and untended] can soon deve
lop into a full-scaled war
between teachers and stu
dents."
Parents were urged to make
a follow-up visit to the school
whenever a child . had been
physically puniaMpte order
to find out the'LMteW''th#
conflict which led to the pu
nlshment and to make lure
that all parties involved were
aware that physical punish
ment was being closely wat
ched. It was stressed that it is
always better for a parent to
know a child's teacher before
any trouble arises, aa this
lessens the likelihood of trou
ble.
The result of this concen
trated effort In making visits
to the school was that as
parents and teachers began
talking to each other more
frequently, they developed
mutual understanding which
decreased the need for corpo
ral punishment in the school
Both parents and teachers
must remember that parents
are obligated to investigate
whenever corporal punish
ment is used, aa it can rapidly
develop into child abuse when
left unnoticed and unchecked.
facing people who earn too much to get welfare
assistance but not enough to live decently.
Last week the Labor Department released
figures that an urban family of four needs over
$10,000 just to survive on what it call· "an
austere budget" - basic living costs and no frills.
It takes over $16,000 to maintain a "moderate"
living standard. What happens to people earning
less than those figures once gas, rant, food and
other energy - based prices increase?
We've got to stop being a nation of energy
junkies; other countries maintain a comparable
standard of living on half the energy. ΒWt any
sacrifices will have to be evenly spread, major
assistance to pour families will have to be built
into the energy program, and the plan must not
worsen our economic and urban problem.